Portsmouth faces tough task in Grizzlies

PORTSMOUTH — Goffstown High School quarterback Connor Benjamin can dazzle. He can produce touchdowns. He can beat teams with his arm and he can beat them with his legs.

He just hasn’t against Portsmouth.

At least not yet.

The biggest obstacle between Portsmouth’s second consecutive Division III championship stands 6 feet tall, can throw and run downfield superbly, and — by most accounts — will be playing in college next fall.

In last week’s 54-53 upset win at No. 1 Souhegan in a semifinal that went to overtime, Benjamin hit on 14-of-26 passes for 309 yards and three touchdowns. He ran for 217 yards and another four scores.

“Coach (Kevin) Mills and I have been talking about it all week, since the ride home (from Milford),” said Portsmouth defensive coach Russ Russo. “What are we gonna do to stop him?”

What they’ve been doing lately has worked.

In three starts against the Clippers dating back to last year’s regular season, Benjamin is 0-3. He’s completed a combined 21-of-61 passes for 249 yards, nine interceptions and no touchdowns. The average score of those games? 46-12.

Games against the Clippers are really the one black mark on the resume of a player who’s led the Grizzlies to the first state final in program history.

“He’s been great,” said Goffstown coach Justin Hufft. “I’ve certainly seen over the years guys having a breakout junior year and falling off their senior year. He’s really improved his game his senior year.”

Goffstown brings a 6-5 record into the championship, but it’s a deceptive 6-5.

Its two non-league games were both losses: a 33-32 thriller opening weekend against Division I Manchester Memorial and a 24-13 loss to Keene, a Division II playoff team, in which neither team played its starters.

In league play, in addition to losing at Portsmouth, it dropped its final two games of the regular season: 49-28 to Hollis-Brookline and 32-27 to first-place Souhegan.

The scores underline the Grizzlies’ biggest concern: defense.

“We’re undersized and there’s nothing we can do about that,” said Hufft. “But we can tackle better.”

It’s a classic match-up of offense vs. defense. While defensive tackle Rick Holt and the rest of the Clippers’ defense was doing the heavy lifting in last week’s 7-0 win at second-seeded Milford in the semifinals, the spread-offense Grizzlies were lighting up the scoreboard at Souhegan.

“The challenge with them is they’ve got a high-performance offense,” said Russo. “They’re big up front and they’ve got a kid at quarterback who’s a stud.”

In the regular-season game at Portsmouth in Week 5, the Grizzlies got off to a great start, driving for a touchdown on the game’s first possession and a long kickoff return by Ashton Florence, and going up 10-0 after a field goal that followed a Clippers fumble.

But the rest of the game was a nightmare for them. Portsmouth scored five touchdowns before halftime, collected five turnovers and a botched punt snap, and won going away, 56-22.

“The key for us, as it has been all year, is turnovers,” said Hufft. “If we don’t turn the ball over we can compete with anyone. If we do, we can’t.”

Florence is one of Benjamin’s favorite targets, and tough, undersized running back Peter Shea gives them another option on the ground. But often, Benjamin will finish with the most carries on the team.